E D U C ATO R GU I D E

This Educator

Guide was

designed for

use in

conjunction

with field trips

to the In the

Street

exhibition, or

for use as a

stand‐alone

classroom

resource. The

materials

included here

contain

curriculum

connections

aligned with

Common Core

and Georgia

Professional

Standards for

5th grade

Visual Arts,

Language Arts,

and Social

Studies, but are

adaptable for

use at other

grade levels.

New York, Helen Levitt, c. 1940. Vintage gelatin silver print. Gift of Dr. and Mrs.

Robert O. Levitt, Telfair Museums, 1998+6+ © Estate of Helen Levitt+

In the Street truly captures the spirit of Helen Levitt‟s work+ For more than

seventy years she roamed the streets of New York City in and among its

diverse people and sites to capture simple views of everyday life. Using a

right-angle viewfinder on her camera, she was able to remain unnoticed and

thereby document the city and its people as they truly were.

Most of the works in this exhibition date to the 1940s and 50s, providing an

invaluable look at the history of the city and its residents. Yet her work also

demonstrates Levitt‟s significant artistic prowess+ Even early on, the artist‟s

work was recognized by the Museum of Modern Art, thus cementing her role

as a serious photographer. Her work today gives us a glimpse of both the

history of life in the city and the potential of photography as an art form.

Helen Levitt found magic on the grimy streets of New York. Her photographs from the '30s and '40s capture the grit and vigor and humor of the city. And she kept on shooting for much of her life. Late in 2001, I visited her in her small, well-worn apartment for a story about her life and career. And it was probably one of the toughest interviews I've ever done. It quickly became clear she didn't much like talking about her work. I tried asking about one of her best-known images — a black

and white picture of four young girls watching soap bubbles drift across the street. I asked her what she captured in that picture. "Just what you see," Levitt said. I asked her why it was hard to talk about her photography. "If it were easy to talk about, I'd be a writer," she said. "Since I'm inarticulate, I express myself with images." Capturing Small, Perfect Moments And she talked some about walking around the streets of New York and how she could capture those moments unnoticed. "I had attached to my camera — I had a little device that fit on the Leica camera that they called a winkelsucher, that allowed you to look one way and take the picture the other," she said. "You could turn your camera sideways." They were small, perfect moments that she found, though she would never tell you that. In a photo from about 1940, some street urchins in tattered clothes cluster on the sidewalk. They're holding the frame of a broken mirror, a boy on a bicycle framed exactly in that open space. In one of my favorites, we see just the back and legs of a woman. She has dived up to her shoulders into her son's baby carriage, as he laughs in huge delight. This was a time when life was lived on the streets, and that's where Levitt spent her time — especially in Spanish Harlem. "It was a very good neighborhood for taking pictures in those days, because that was before television," she said. "There was a lot happening. And then the older people would sometimes be sitting out on the stoops because of the heat. They didn't have air conditioning in those days. It was, don't forget, in the late '30s. So those neighborhoods were very active."

Adapted from an NPR article. Full text available at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?

storyId=102504602

▪What does it

mean to “capture

the grit and

vigor” of the city?

What do those

words mean to

you?

▪Levitt says that

the time before

television was

good for taking

pictures. How has

TV changed our

lives? What do

you think life was

like on those

streets before

television?

▪What‟s your

favorite way to

capture a

moment or idea?

Helen Levitt, c. 1963.

“At the peak of

Helen‟s form,

there was no one

better+”

— John

Szarkowski, former

director of the

photography

department at the

Museum of

Modern Art

Helen Levitt (1913-2009) was once called the "the most

celebrated and least known photographer of her time." She

was responsible for some of the most iconic images of the

streets of New York in the 20th century. Her photos captured

life on the streets in some of the city‟s most vibrant

neighborhoods, which she was able to do largely unnoticed.

The result was images that captured the true spirit of her

subjects and often seemed to speak to a larger narrative,

naturally sparking certain questions in the viewer. Her movie,

“In the Street” (which will screen continuously in this exhibition)

is much like seeing her photos come to life. But without seeing

those moments that explain „what happened next‟ we‟re left

with intriguing images that beg further speculation.

Introduce your students to the work of Helen Levitt. You can use the article on

the previous page as a class reading and discussion activity to do so. Ask

students to imagine what life in a city would have been like in the ‟40s and ‟50s

when Levitt took most of her photographs.

Take a look at some of Levitt‟s photographs (or other photographs) as a class to

discuss how to „read‟ an image+ Use visual thinking strategies (VTS) to engage

your class in a student-lead discussion of various images. Moderate with the

questions “What‟s going on in this picture?” and “What do you see that makes

you say that?”+ [See the resource section of this guide for online VTS

references, including a blog with archived images from the New York Times.]

Having discussed some of Levitt‟s photographs, ask students to choose one of

her photos as an inspiration for their own narrative. This could be from the

exhibition, while students are in the gallery, from the images on the following

pages (designed to be used as a potential handout/prompt for students), or

from one of the online slideshows.

Set guidelines for length and have students share their final work, discussing

differences among interpretations of the same photographs.

Georgia Performance Standards for Fine Arts Education VA5AR.2 Uses a variety of approaches to understand and critique works of art. f. Writes about art for an audience and captures the feelings represented in words. English Language Arts Common Core Georgia Performance Standards ELACC5W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

Book cover, A Way

of Seeing, Helen

Levitt, 1965.

You‟ve probably heard “a picture is worth 1000 words”+ This time, those words will be yours. Choose one of the images here as your inspiration. Decide what you think the setting is, who the characters are, and what the central issue is in your narrative. Be ready to share your work and see how other people might have interpreted the same photograph in a different way!

New York, c. 1940. Telfair Museums. Gift of Marvin Hoshino, 1998.12.1. © Estate of Helen Levitt+

New York, c. 1939. Gift of Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, 2005+27 © Estate of Helen Levitt+

New York, c. 1940. Gift of Marvin Hoshino, 1998+12+2+ © Estate of Helen Levitt+

New York (Slide Show), 1959, Telfair Museums. Gift of Richard and Elizabeth Devereaux, 1998.14.2. © Estate of Helen Levitt+

New York, c. 1940. Telfair Museums. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, 1998.5. © Estate of Helen Levitt+

New York (Children with Broken Mirror), c. 1940. Telfair Museums. Gift of Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, 2002.3.1.

Mexico City, 1941. Telfair Museums. Gift of Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, 2003+12+2+ © Estate of Helen Levitt+

Helen Levitt‟s photographs were not just works of art but a way to capture a moment in time. In doing so she has given us a wealth of visual information about New York in the 1930s and 40s, a time of social upheaval and change in this country. In looking at these images we get a much better idea of what life might have been like all those years ago.

Georgia Performance Standards for Social Studies SS5H4 The student will describe U.S. involvement in World War I and post-World War I America. b. Describe the cultural developments and individual contributions in the 1920s of the Jazz Age (Louis Armstrong), the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes), baseball (Babe Ruth), the automobile (Henry Ford), and the airplane (Charles Lindbergh). SS5H5 The student will explain how the Great Depression and New Deal affected the lives of millions of Americans. a. Discuss the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the Dust Bowl, and soup kitchens. b. Analyze the main features of the New Deal; include the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. c. Discuss important cultural elements of the 1930s; include Duke Ellington, Margaret Mitchell, and Jesse Owens. English Language Arts Common Core Georgia Performance Standards

ELACC5W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. Georgia Performance Standards for Fine Arts Education VA5CU.2 Views and discusses selected artworks.

a. Identifies elements, principle, themes, and/ or time period in a work of art.

After engaging in some study of the early-mid 20th century, discuss strategies for assessing the age

of primary source photographs. Have students, working in small groups, put the following images in

chronological order based on what they know. Then have them individually write a newspaper

caption that might have accompanied each photo. Have some students share their captions and as a

class, discuss what details led to the conclusions they reached. Finally, read students the actual

captions (below) as a wrap-up.

A) Dorothea Lange, 1936+ The caption reads: “Part of an impoverished family of nine on a New Mexico

highway. Depression refugees from Iowa. Left Iowa in 1932 because of father's ill health. Father an auto

mechanic laborer, painter by trade, tubercular. Family has been on relief in Arizona but refused entry on

relief roles in Iowa to which state they wish to return. Nine children including a sick four-month-old baby.

No money at all. About to sell their belongings and trailer for money to buy food. "We don't want to go

where we'll be a nuisance to anybody."

B) 1943+ The caption reads: “New York, New York+ Duke Ellington directs his band during a floor show at the

Hurricane Ballroom”+

C) Roger Smith, 1943+ The caption reads: “New York, New York+ Street scene on 52nd Street”+

D) 1935+ The caption reads: “CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) boys at work, Prince George's County, MD”+

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Remember:

A caption

should

include the

who, what,

where,

when, and

why of the

image.

Pretend

someone is

skimming a

newspaper

looking for

a brief

synopsis of

each

picture. Discussion questions:

What is going on in this picture?

What do you see that make you say that?

What other details might give you a clue about what time period this is?

Now write a two-sentence caption for each image that describes what‟s going

on in each picture. You can enhance your text by inferring information from the

image, as long as you‟re able to explain logically how you arrived at that

particular conclusion.

Segovia, Spain

Library of Congress, LC-USW3-031117-C.

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rary

of

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, LC

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.

Library of Congress, LC-USW3- 023978-D [P&P].

Lib

rary

of

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F33-T

01-0

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050

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.

See if you can put these images in

chronological order. Think about what

you know about American history.

One of Helen Levitt‟s strengths as a photographer was her natural ability to create perfectly composed photographs. With her typically monochromatic color scheme and simplistic scenes, they serve as an ideal introduction (or refresher) for themes like line and shape, and how they contribute to an overall composition.

Georgia Performance Standards for Fine Arts Education

VA5CU.2 Views and discusses selected artworks.

a. Identifies elements, principle, themes, and/ or time period in a work of art.

VA5AR.3 Explains how selected principles of design are used in an artwork to convey meaning and how they affect personal responses to and evaluation of the artwork.

a. Uses art terms with emphasis on the elements of art: line, shape, form, color, space, value, texture.

VA5PR.1 Creates artworks based on personal experience and selected themes.

f. Produces artworks emphasizing one or more elements of art (e.g. color, line, shape, form, texture).

Discuss the concepts of line and shape with your students. You can use the following

handout as a starting point. Identify examples of line and shape within the classroom. Try

using other images of Helen Levitt‟s (see the Resources section for further information+)

Take it further. Talk about the impact of these lines and shapes on the overall composition

but also on the significance of the image. How do they make your eye move across the

picture plane? Do they highlight certain areas? Or lead your gaze in a particular direction?

Do they change or enhance the meaning you get from a particular photograph? How do

you think they do that?

Move to the image at the bottom of the following page+ This photograph is one of Levitt‟s

most well-known. Ask students to identify elements like line and shape that they notice,

using the questions listed as an initial guideline. Discuss the overall composition and what

the image makes them think about or feel.

As an extension, have students create their own compositions, really focusing on ways of

manipulating line and shape. This could be with a camera, like Levitt herself—even a

simple pinhole version could be used for this purpose. Alternately students could do this

exercise with pencil, charcoal or any 2D materials that would allow for a monochromatic

image. Encourage students to discuss their work and how they considered line and shape

when crating their final composition.

Segovia, Spain

Ideas like line and shape make

up what we call composition, or

how all these elements are

arranged together in one image.

What lines do you see here?

Which are real and which are

implied?

What shapes do you see? Are

they positive or negative?

How does your eye move across

this image? Which areas are you

drawn to?

New York, c. 1940, Telfair Museums, 1998.6.

Actual lines are ones you can see in the

picture plane. They might form shapes.

They can be horizontal, vertical, or

diagonal, like the one made by the

sidewalk, highlighted here.

Implied lines aren‟t physically present as

a line on the photo; they‟re ones that

your mind creates when looking at an

image+ See how the woman‟s arm seems

to form an imaginary link with the child?

Shapes are created by lines. They can be

geometric shapes—shapes you‟re familiar

with like circles and squares. They can also be

irregular, or organic. These shapes might look

more like spilt milk or a cloud.

We can have negative shapes—filled with

nothing (like the circle made by the boy with

the ribbon here) or positive shapes, filled with

something real you can touch, like the door

that‟s making a rectangle+

New York, c. 1940, © Estate of Helen Levitt, 1999.8.2.

New York, c. 1940, © Estate of Helen Levitt, 1999.8.1.

In this section you will find resources referred to in earlier materials as well as additional

reference materials for you and your students.

Library of Congress: Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Negatives

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/

This searchable database from the Library of Congress is an invaluable resource. It provides an extensive visual record of life in America between 1935 and 1944. The photographs were taken as part of a national project for various agencies within the government.

Helen Levitt Captured Perfect Moments, Unnoticed

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102504602

This simple article, written, just after Levitt‟s death, sums up the artist‟s life and work in a nutshell+ Adapted for use at the fifth grade level in this guide, you can find the full length text at the link above. As an alternative, you can also listen to the original story that aired on All Things Considered.

Atget Photography: Helen Levitt

http://www.atgetphotography.com/The-Photographers/Helen-Levitt.html

This website offers a brief explanation of Helen Levitt‟s work and its significance as well as a library of her photographs, several of which are featured in Helen Levitt: In the Street.

Helen Levitt: New York Streets 1938 to 1990s

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/helen-levitt-helen-levitt-new-york-streets-1938-to-1990s

This slideshow includes a variety of images throughout Levitt‟s career, including many that appear in this exhibition as well as some later color photographs from as recent as the 1990s. It offers a simple way to view her photos without having to create a powerpoint.

New York Times Obituary of Helen Levitt

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/arts/design/30levitt.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

This obituary memorializes Helen Levitt, remembering her for the groundbreaking work she did in photography. It goes further into depth, providing information on films and books she produced, as well as giving insight from those closest to her.

The Learning Network: What‟s Going on in this Picture?

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/category/lesson-plans/whats-going-on-in-this-picture/

This blog, part of the New York Times‟ Teaching & Learning section, offers visual rich images that are ideal for practicing students‟ critical analysis skills with VTS (visual thinking strategies)+ Each week the blog adds a new image and encourages classes to use it as a starting point.

Reading Photographs

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/677

This site, from the UNC School of Education, offers tips for teachers and students on how to „read‟ photos, including helpful leading questions and examples. This information is useful for all types of photographs in a variety of contexts.

Visual Thinking Strategies

http://www.vtshome.org/

As the name suggests, this website is focused on the basics and advantages of visual thinking strategies and particularly how to incorporate them into the classroom. It is full of invaluable resources to be used in many areas of the curriculum.

Visual Literacy: Writing about Photography

http://twp.duke.edu/uploads/assets/photography.pdf

This pdf, from the Duke Writing Studio, is aimed at adults but offers lots of helpful ideas to consider when „reading‟ and writing about photography.

The Educators Guide will prepare you for tour content, but what about tour procedures?

Keep things running smoothly with this list.

Don‟t worry, we will go over these again on your arrival, but it does help if students have heard them from you first. Explore with your eyes, not your hands. Telfair Museums was created in order to share art and knowledge. We take special care of the art in our collections so that it can be shared for a long, long time. Even the gentlest touches can add up to harmful results. Point with your words, not your finger. Even if you know not to touch, if you point too closely to a part of a painting or sculpture, you might accidentally touch it. Instead of pointing, describe what you want to point out using words like “in the center,” “at the bottom,” “next to the corner,” “to the right,” “above,” and “below+” Walk and move carefully. Follow your docent. Take your time, watch where you are going, and hold onto handrails while using the stairs.

Listen carefully, raise your hand, speak clearly but quietly. The museum is a place for thinking and learning. The same rules that make learning easier in a classroom are used here too.

Eating, drinking, and chewing gum are not allowed. Photography is not allowed.

Our docents are dedicated volunteers. Your prompt notification regarding cancellations or late arrival helps prevent mismanagement of the time they so generously donate.

To cancel a tour, please call 912.790.8827 If you will be more than 10 minutes late, or are cancelling the day of the tour, please inform the Telfair Academy museum receptionist at 912.790.8871 or the Jepson Center receptionist at 912.790.8802.

Before you enter the museum/get off the bus, divide into groups with an adult in each. When you check in at the admission desk, please provide the number of students and chaperones to the front desk staff and check backpacks, lunches, and jackets.

Stay with the group you have been assigned to. Maintain discipline without interrupting the docent. Proximal control works great! Bathroom Breaks: Academy bathrooms are located in the basement level. There is a bathroom on the third floor in the touring area, but its use during tours interferes with

student attentiveness. Reserve it for emergency use only.

Please let us know about your experience. We are constantly evaluating and improving our programs. Your observations and ideas are a valuable resource. Please share them at 912.790.8827.

Assembled in honor of the late Savannah native, scholar and MoMA curator Kirk Varnedoe (1946-2003), the Kirk Varnedoe Collection contains some of the finest examples of contemporary art in the

Telfair‟s permanent collection. The Varnedoe Collection celebrates the life and legacy of Kirk Varnedoe through the presentation of

works on paper created by the contemporary artists he most admired, including exemplary works by artists such as Jasper Johns,

Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Kiki Smith, Richard Serra, Richard Avedon, Elizabeth

Murray and many others.

Telfair Museums presents Slavery and Freedom in Savannah in conjunction with the newly published book of the same title. The exhibition‟s images, documentary accounts and objects from Telfair Museums and other collections provide a deeper understanding of our collective American past. Viewed with a wider lens, pieces such as the neoclassical tea service are not simply prized possessions of a wealthy, white slaveholder, but also are objects held and polished under the watchful eye of a trained, enslaved laborer. The exhibition also presents objects that tell stories into the 20th century, highlighting Savannah-only histories and representing some contemporary interpretations of the African American experience in Savannah and America.

The New York Accents exhibition brings together a wide variety of works that demonstrates the Telfair‟s, and Savannah‟s, various

connections to New York over the last 200 years. Though the cities seem vastly different they have long shared a love of art and culture, each city housing some of the country‟s oldest major museums+ The

story begins with the Telfair family, who often visited and bought decorative arts from New York and other northern hubs. Over the years the relationship grew, with the development of the Telfair‟s

Savannah Art Club in the 1920s, attracting New York artists, and with prominent members of the art community like Gari Melchers and Kirk

Varnedoe maintaining strong ties to both cities. The artworks collected here convey an aspect of the special connection these two historic

cities share.

As an educator, you are eligible for a special membership rate.

Our $35 Educator‟s Membership entitles you to all of the following:

Unlimited free admission to the Telfair Museums three sites

[Telfair Academy, Jepson Center for the Arts, and Owens Thomas House]

Invitations to special members-only events and lectures

Discounted rates for art classes (for all ages) and children‟s summer camps

10* discount at the Telfair Museums‟ stores

Eligibility to join museum member groups

A one-time use guest pass

It pays to join! Visit www.telfair.org or call 912.790.8866.

This exhibition is organized by Telfair Museums and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. The photographs in this exhibition are drawn from the permanent collections of both the Telfair